Words of Encouragement
by GuardianDragon98
Summary: An extra scene I wrote in for the "Just A Guy" episode. When Sonic feels like everyone on Seaside Island has turned their backs on him, he receives some much-needed encouragement from a certain Ultimate Lifeform. Boom Sonadow. Think of this as a companion piece to my "It Takes A Village to Defeat A Hedgehog AU" story.


**I'm back with more Boom Sonadow! This time, I'm writing an extra scene that takes place during the "Just A Guy" episode, where Sonic quits the hero business (for less than five minutes) and leaves. This focuses on Sonic processing his emotions over how everyone's been treating him through reaching out to Shadow.**

**This also sets the stage for the events of my "It Takes a Village to Defeat a Hedgehog AU" by establishing the fact that Shadow and Sonic have been in a relationship prior to Sonic Boom.**

**Enjoy!**

**NOTE: I DO NOT OWN SONIC BOOM OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS.**

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**Words of Encouragement**

'_What is wrong with them?!' _Sonic thought as he fumbled with his hammock's strings, having found a quiet isolated spot on the beach to be alone. _'Every time I do something wrong, they come down on me. And every time I try to fix my mistakes, everyone always manages finds a flaw and they blow it all out of proportion… What do I have to do to get even just the tiniest sliver of respect around here?_

He hadn't meant to offend Mike the first time. When he called Mike "just a guy," he meant just that. It's not like he said that Mike was only going to get in the way in a battle. Mike was just… Okay, maybe he was also thinking about Mike's safety when he called him that. But he hadn't been trying to be mean. He just recognized that Mike didn't have the necessary skills to fight Eggman. And the last thing Sonic wanted was for a civilian to get injured in any of the battles he and his team engaged in.

He tried to let Mike down easy but the villagers twisted his words.

What's worse was that Amy and the rest of the team shared the same sentiments. His own friends thought of him as an egotistical jerk and forced him to atone for what should have been just a minor mistake!

It hurt to hear Amy say, "I think the town will forgive you if they see you're making an effort to change your condescending, high-handed, appallingly insensitive attitude." It was like being slapped in the face. Now that he thought about it, a slap to the face would have been kinder to him.

Tying the final strings, Sonic sighed and climbed into the hammock. Maybe he would be lucky enough to get a couple of minutes of peace…

And then some of the villagers came to ask him for help with the Lightning Bolt Society. Already pushed to the end of his patience, he'd turned them away, saying that he was retired. And by Chaos, it felt so _good _to do that.

But when the villagers left, some even muttering about how selfish he was being, the peace he had been hoping for was shattered.

"_Sonic barged in and called Mike "Just a Guy," as if to say he was _so _much better than the rest of us. We begged him to stop, but he just kept berating the poor fella!"_

"_That's Sonic! Living it up on the beach. He's lost touch with the common man."_

"_Can you believe that guy? I mean the nerve of some people."_

Curling up into a ball, Sonic desperately tried to go to his happy place just like what Amy told him to. He was lounging in a hammock, he was at the beach, birds were singing, the sun was shining…

But it wasn't enough.

Sonic could feel all of his emotions just raging to be let out. He screwed his eyes shut, his ears flattening until they were pinned tightly down against his head, as small whimpers escaped his lips. He was going to have a complete meltdown and no one was there to comfort him…

At the same time, however, something came to him. A vision of his _true_ happy place. It was pretty much the same. He was lying on a hammock on the beach and a fresh ocean breeze was blowing but, this time, he was with someone.

Someone he loved, someone he could open up to, someone who listened to him.

Taking out a phone, Sonic took a deep breath to regain his composure and chose the video call option. Part of him was worried, though. He knew that today wasn't the regularly scheduled day he'd call but he just felt so lonely. And he needed to see, not just hear, _him…_

A minute passed and Sonic was about to give up and cancel the call when his phone's screen changed into a live video call feed all the way from the mainland.

"What's up?"

Sonic couldn't stop a massive grin from forming on his face as Shadow smirked at him. The Ultimate Lifeform was holding a wrench in his free hand and, looking at the background, Sonic spotted his motorbike in the corner. Shadow must have been busy doing maintenance on it when he called.

"Hey, Shads." Sonic waved to his boyfriend.

"Rough day, Blue?" Shadow asked, one black ear flicking.

"You can say that…" Sonic mumbled, feeling his throat tighten. Darn it, no… He had to be strong. He couldn't cry in front of Shadow now…

Shadow's smirk was replaced with a frown. It wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for him and Sonic to video call each other, but the way the latter's usually perky blue ears were pinned down was enough to tell him that something was wrong.

"Hey, talk to me. What's wrong?" asked Shadow, his tone soft.

Sonic told him everything. About Mike and the whole "Just a Guy" brouhaha, Amy and the gang dissing him, his attempts to make things right which only earned him more ire from the villagers – everything just came spilling out. And all the while, Shadow listened.

"I don't know what to do anymore! I know I could have phrased things better, but everybody just started getting on my case without giving me a chance to explain myself. Then when I tried to do the right thing, it just ended up making things worse.

"I have been busting my ass week after week, saving everyone from Eggman, and the minute I do something wrong, _I'm _the bad guy! What more do they want from me?!" Sonic felt the tears streaming down his cheeks and sniffled. "Sorry… it's just… It's been a rough two days…" he admitted, rubbing his eyes.

Shadow nodded slowly, processing all the information. "Two questions. One, do you think it was okay to… you know…?" he shrugged, letting Sonic fill in the blanks.

"What? Say 'ass'? I don't know. I don't see anyone recording this conversation," he replied, looking over his shoulder just in case.

"Okay, I'm glad we cleared that up. My second question: Are most, if not all, of the people in that village dumb and immature sheeple who overreact to every little thing?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe…" Sonic sighed, shoulders slumping as he held the phone up. "But what does it matter? I may be retired but I bet that something's gonna happen in the next two to three minutes to pull me back into being the hero…"

"Two to three minutes, huh? That's a very specific prediction," Shadow remarked. Then his face softened. "True, you could have chosen your words more carefully. But that doesn't mean everyone else had the right to make you feel like this." He smiled gently at Sonic, who was still crying.

"Hey, come on, don't cry…" Putting down the wrench, Shadow reached out to wipe the screen with his thumb, pretending that he was wiping away Sonic's tears himself. "You're not going to let a few words bring you down, are you?" he asked.

Sonic laughed a bit, touched by Shadow's sweet gesture, and shook his head.

"Of course not. You're _Sonic the Hedgehog_ and you never let anyone get to you," Shadow encouraged him.

'_It's official: I am the luckiest hedgehog in the world to have someone like Shadow,' _Sonic thought as his boyfriend's words healed the ache in his heart.

The Ultimate Lifeform had come a long way since Eggman had unleashed him on the world all those years ago. He'd shed his dark, brooding, edgy persona – keeping it up only when he needed his space or if there were foes to be intimidated into submission – and had become more amiable, gentler, warmer.

At the same time that Shadow had undergone a near-full 180 in terms of personality, he and Sonic had begun dating. Only Rouge knew of their relationship, the two of them content to sneak off and spend time together away from everyone else.

It had been hard to say goodbye when Eggman decided to move his villainous operations to Seaside Island, but they promised to make their long-distance relationship work. And Sonic had promised Shadow that, when it was all over, he was going to come back.

Wiping away the last of his tears, Sonic smiled. "Thank you…" he murmured.

"Happy to help," Shadow replied.

Sonic gazed into the screen, smiling wistfully. "I wish you were here, Shadow," he said softly.

"Me too," Shadow said, smiling sadly. "But don't worry. My team and I just need to go on a couple more missions and then G.U.N. will finally let us retire. Once I'm let go, I'm coming to you."

"About time the Commander finally let you get a life." Sonic beamed. It pleased him to see that Shadow was finally being allowed complete and total freedom after everything he had been through.

Shadow chuckled. "I think Rouge is more excited about retirement than I am. She's already started renovating her club," he said.

"What about Omega?" Sonic leaned back. He could still recall how upset the robot had been when he'd been denied permission to join Team Sonic in going after Eggman when they left for Seaside Island, and he wondered how the robot muscle of Team Dark was doing.

"Surprisingly, Omega's mellowed out." Shadow smiled, glancing away from Sonic for a moment. "He's even offered to be the official bouncer for Club Rouge once it re-opens. Hehe, that's gonna be interesting," he chuckled.

"Oh, I can tell. If I remember correctly, G.U.N. gives its employees a pretty hefty sum when they retire. What are you gonna do with all your gold rings?" Sonic lay back down on the hammock, holding his phone up to his face.

"I don't know. Donate to a few charities, get some upgrades for my bike, open a cat orphanage…" Shadow listed off, the last one earning a snort from Sonic. "Hey, you know I have a soft spot for adorable kittens." He gave the blue hedgehog a playful glare.

"Ooh, you should get Big to advertise the joint!" Sonic suggested, earning a laugh from the black-and-red biohog.

"You know what? I might just do that," Shadow replied, him and Sonic laughing.

Sonic hummed, an idea coming to his mind. "If Eggman's schemes go from 'petty' to 'code red' according to my radar… Think I can ask for the services of Team Dark?" he inquired.

"We would like nothing more. Especially Omega. I'm sure he would love to thrash Eggman's robots," Shadow replied, smirking.

"I'll keep you updated then." Feeling at peace, Sonic prepared to end the call. "Hey, Shads?" He smiled warmly at his boyfriend. "Thanks for hearing me out. I-I really needed it," he said quietly.

"Like I said, happy to help." Shadow returned the smile, ruby-red eyes shining. "If the world ever decides to turn its back on you, Sonic, I want you to know that I won't. I'll always have your back," he promised.

"And I'll always have yours. Love you, Shads," Sonic replied, feeling a million times better.

"Love you, too, Blue. See you."

Sonic sighed, putting his phone away, and closed his eyes. Now he could finally relax…

"HELP!"

"So much for early retirement," Sonic sighed, getting out of his hammock and speeding off towards the village.

But instead of feeling frustrated, he felt invigorated. He had a feeling that there were still going to be days where it felt like everyone on the island was against him. There were still going to be days when he would make a mistake and everyone would call him out on it.

But as long as Shadow believed in him, he could take on anything.

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**Dare I say it, but I love writing Sonadow stories.**

**Anyways, read and review!**

**-GuardianDragon98**


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